Sealed vent water heater



y 1963 J. J. VlTALE 3,091,223

SEALED VENT WATER HEATER Filed Feb. 27, 1961 INVENTOR. JOHN J. V/TALEATTORNE Y6 United States Patent 3,091,223 SEALED VENT WATER HEATER JohnJ. Vitale, La Porte, Ind., assignor to Bastian-Morley Co., Inc., LaPorte, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Feb. 27, 1961, Ser. No.91,976 2 Claims. (Cl. 12217) This invention relates to automatic storagewater heaters in general, and is particularly directed to such a heaterhaving a sealed combustion system.

Conventional automatic storage water heaters are provided withcombustion systems that are open to the room in which they areinstalled. Such heaters are accordingly potentially hazardous in thatgas may readily escape into the room should the burner flame or pilotflame be extinguished and the automatic gas cutofi apparatus fail tooperate. Moreover, the burner derives its air for combustion from theroom, the air in a poorly ventilated room being thus gradually depletedby the burner. In addition, the harmful combustion products of the waterheater burner may pass into the room in the event the water heater ventbecomes plugged or otherwise malfunctions.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved water heater having a combustion chamber that is completelysealed from the room in which it is installed.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a water heater ofthe class described which is arranged to derive all air for combustiondirectly from and to discharge all flue gases directly to outsideatmosphere.

Tue invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some ofwhich, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of the invention which is illustratedin the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It isto be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by thesaid drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims.

FiuURE 1 is an elevational view with portions broken away of theimproved water heater, and

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken at line 22 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown an improved water heater 11in accordance with the present invention installed within a roomadjacent an exterior wall 12 thereof. The water heater includes theusual upright cylindrical water tank 13 disposed concentrically withinand spaced from a cylindrical insulating jacket 14. Both the tank andjacket are mounted upon a horizontal circular base plate 16 havingcircumferentially spaced support legs 17 at its undersurface. A verticaldrop tube 13 depends axially into the water tank interior and extendsthrough the tank top and jacket top in the usual manner. Further to theforegoing, a tank bottom 19 is provided within the tank shell in spacedrelation to base plate 16, and a gas burner 21 is mounted upon the baseplate in underlying relation to the tank bottom. A gas pipe 22 extendsfrom the burner radially outward through the lower portion of the tankshell and jacket to bend upwardly exteriorly of the jacket and connectto a temperature control unit 23 secured thereto. The control unit 23includes a thermostat 24 which is disposed in the water tank interiorsuch that the flow of gas to the burner through the unit 23 from aninlet connection 26 is controlled according to the temperature of waterin the tank, as is conventional in the art.

It will be appreciated that the construction of the heater 11 asdescribed thus far is in basic respects similar to that of conventionalwater heaters. A very important departure from conventional water heaterconstruction is provided in the improved heater 11, however, in that theburner 21 is disposed within a combustion chamber 27 that is completelysealed from the heater exterior and therefore from a room in which it isinstalled. More specifically, the sealed combustion chamber 27 isdefined by the tank bottom 19, base plate 16, and lower portion of thetank shell interposed therebetween. All attachments of the foregoingmembers are made gas-tight in the provision of the sealed chamber and asealing gasket 28, or the like, is employed at the point of penetrationof the gas pipe 22 through the tank shell. In addition, an access door29 to the chamber is provided in the tank shell, such door being of atype to seal the access opening upon closing.

With the sealed combustion chamber thus provided, it is of furtherimportance to note that the improved water heater 11 is arranged toobtain combustion air directly from the outside atmosphere forintroduction to the sealed chamber and to exhaust flue gases generatedin the chamber directly to the outside atmosphere. It will thus beappreciated that the entire combustion system of the water heater issealed from its surroundings. More particularly, a verticalchannel-shaped member 31, or equivalent means, is secured to theperipheral wall of the jacket 14 and extends from substantially the topto the bottom thereof to define a sealed vertically extending airpassage 32. The passage is closed at its upper and lower ends as bymeans of closure plates 33, 34 secured transversely across the ends ofthe member 31. Registering openings through the jacket and tank shelladjacent the lower end of the passage and "bridged by an interconnectingtube 36, or the like, then provide communication between the air passageand sealed chamber. Atmospheric air is introduced to the upper end ofthe air passage 32 as by means of a coaxial flue pipe assembly 37 of thetype disclosed in the copending application of Harry C. Little, SerialNo. 642,711, filed February 27, 1957. Such assembly extends through ahole 38 in exterior wall 12 to the outside atmosphere and includes innerand outer concentric members 39 and 41 defining a central passage 42 andconcentric annular passage '43 through the wall. The outer member 4-1terminates in an opening at the upper end of the air passage definingmember 31 and the inner member extends therethrough as well as throughthe jacket wall. Thus the annular passage 43 communicates with passage32, and atmospheric air entering the flue pipe assembly 37, as indicatedby the arrows in FIG- URE 1, passes through these passages and throughthe tube 36 into the sealed combustion chamber. The entering air ispreferably circulated around the burner 21 in an up-draft direction, andto this end a circular bafile plate 44 is mounted horizontally withinthe combustion chamber adjacent the tube 36 preferably in substantiallybisecting relation to its inner end. The baflie plate includes anenlarged opening 496 through which the burner 21 extends in inwardlyspaced concentric relation. Thus the entering air stream is split by thebaffle plate with one portion flowing above and the other below same.The lower portion of the stream then flows upwardly through the opening46 and hence has an updraft direction in flowing past the burner.

In order that the combustion products from the burner be exhausted fromthe sealed chamber 27 directly to the outside atmosphere, an outlet pipe47 is provided which communicably connects the chamber to the innermember 39 of the coaxial flue pipe assembly 37. The lower end of thepipe terminates at the under surface of the tank bottom 19 with the pipeextending vertically upward through the tank interior and exteriorlythrough the tank top. The upper end of the pipe then bends horizontallyin the space between the tank top and jacket top and terminates in theflue pipe assembly inner member 39.

'its lower end, a support base sealingly secured to the lower end ofsaid tank to define a sealed chamber underlying said bottom wall, aburner mounted upon said base within said chamber, a flue gas outletpipe in communication with said chamber at said bottom wall andterminating exteriorly of the tank, conduit means defining an air inletpassage communicating with said chamber through said tank in the regionthereof disposed between said bottom wall and support base, a baffleplate mounted horizontally within said chamber spaced above said baseplate and having an opening through which said burner extends above saidbaflle plate, said bafiie plate disposed adjacent said inlet passage andadapted to separate inlet air flow into two air streams respectivelyabove and below said baflie plate, and an outside atmosphere flue pipeassembly defining a pair of passages respectively communicably connectedto said outlet pipe and conduit means.

2. A Water heater comprising an upright cylindrical water storage tankhaving a bottom wall recessed from its lower end, a jacketconcentrically disposed about said tank in spaced relation thereto, asupport base sealingly secured to the lower ends of said tank and jacketand defining a sealed combustion chamber underlying said 4 bottom wall,an upright burner mounted upon said base within said chamber, a flue gasoutlet pipe in communication with said chamber at said bottom wall andextending upwardly therefromthrough said tank to terminate exteriorlythereof, a vertically extending channel shaped member having closed endsand secured to the peripheral wall of said jacket to define a passagetherewith, an inlet tube extending horizontally through the peripheralwall of said jacket adjacent the lower end of said channel-shaped memberand through the peripheral wall of said tank to terminate in saidchamber, a baffle plate mounted horizontally Within said chamber spacedabove said base plate and having an opening through which said burnerextends above said bafile plate, said bafiie plate disposed adjacentsaid inlet tube in bisecting relation thereto to separate inlet air flowinto two air streams respectively above and below said bafiie plateandra coaxial flue pipe assembly including radially spaced inner andouter concentric tubular members extending horizontally through saidchannel shaped member at its upper end into said passage with the outermember terminating therein and the inner member extending through theperipheral wall of said jacket into connection with said outlet pipe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,334,398 rFarren et a1. Nov. 16, 1943 2,755,794 Wendell July 24, 19562,966,838 Thompson et a1. Jan. 3, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,151,197 FranceAug. 19, 1957

1. A WATER HEATER COMPRISING AN UPRIGHT CYLINDRICAL WATER STORAGE TANKHAVING A BOTTOM WALL RECESSED FROM ITS LOWER END, A SUPPORT BASESEALINGLY SECURED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID TANK TO DEFINE A SEALEDCHAMBER UNDERLYING SAID BOTTOM WALL, A BURNER MOUNTED UPON SAID BASEWITHIN SAID CHAMBER, A FLUE GAS OUTLET PIPE IN COMMUNICATION WITH SAIDCHAMBER AT SAID BOTTOM WALL AND TERMINATING EXTERIORLY OF THE TANK,CONDUIT MEANS DEFINING AN AIR INLET PASSAGE COMMUNICATING WITH SAIDCHAMBER THROUGH SAID TANK IN THE REGION THEREOF DISPOSED BETWEEN SAIDBOTTOM WALL AND SUPPORT BASE, A BAFFLE PLATE MOUNTED HORIZONTALLY WITHINSAID CHAMBER SPACED ABOVE SAID BASE PLATE AND HAVING AN OPENING THROUGHWHICH SAID BURNER EXTENDS ABOVE SAID BAFFLE PLATE, SAID BAFFLE PLATEDISPOSED ADJACENT SAID INLET PASSAGE AND ADAPTED TO SEPARATE INLET AIRFLOW INTO TWO AIR STREAMS RESPECTIVELY ABOVE AND BELOW SAID BAFFLEPLATE, AND AN OUTSIDE ATMOSPHERE FLUE PIPE ASSEMBLY DEFINING A PAIR OFPASSAGES RESPECTIVELY COMMUNICABLY CONNECTED TO SAID OUTLET PIPE ANDCONDUIT MEANS.